Abhi Subedi’s Poetic Odyssey

Abhi Subedi's anthology of poems, Forever Arriving, sums up his lifelong journey as a lover of poetry. Through this anthology, he communicates that writing poetry in English has been a journey towards a creative space and self-exploration. Each poem in the anthology serves as a milestone in Subedi's poetic odyssey, marking moments of epiphany, inspiration, and transformation. Through his verses, he invites readers to accompany him on his journey of self-discovery and artistic evolution, encouraging readers to ponder the complexities of existence and the beauty of language.

Subedi writes in free verse that is free-flowing, like the feelings he pours into his poetry, and does not adhere to any particular style. His poems deviate from traditional western poems in both form, style, and theme. The absence of strict syllabic and metrical schemes gives him the space to showcase his creative energy unhindered. He composes poetry to give an outlet to his powerful emotions induced by the places and people he encountered during his stay in England as an international student of English language and literature.

 I charge my words

With the sun and the wind

And sing them 

Down the valleys of mind

This stanza depicts how intense and compressed his words and ideas are; each word is as powerful as the sun or the wind. He says he pours out these powerful emotions to immortalise the ecstasy of the moment. The imagery of charging words with the power of the sun and wind suggests a profound intensity and energy behind the poet's expressions. By singing them down the valleys of the mind, he seeks to fill his thoughts with a lasting impact, immortalising the fleeting ecstasy of the moment within the landscape of consciousness. Subedi in this stanza depicts the transformative potential of language and emotions.

Subedi believes transcending borders and addressing a wider audience has always impelled him. Thus, he chooses poetry as a medium that is fluid and even anarchist in nature to speak out his true heart. He wants to navigate the wonders of the literary world that become accessible to him through the mastery of language, and he undoubtedly has mastery over the English language. The absence of affirmations, ideologies, or definitive conclusions in Subedi's poems suggests a focus on life and art in their purest forms. This approach may resonate strongly with readers who appreciate a subtler and contemplative exploration of human experience and creation.

The introduction he writes for his poetry is powerful enough to influence the interpretation of the poem. And as a reader, I am forced to contemplate whether it is justifiable to write such elaborate introductions before each collection. The introduction, to a certain extent, develops reader's biases, and readers struggle to separate ‘the Abhi Subedi’ from the poems in this anthology. 

There is a gap between his intentions and execution; his personal experience undoubtedly provides a rich source of inspiration, as his poems tend to focus heavily on these individual narratives and are disconnected from the broader mood, theme, and style of late 20th-century poetry and his contemporaries. Late 20th-century poets were nonconformist in both theme and style; they explored a wide variety of subjects, from counterculture advocated in Allen Ginsbreg’s ‘Howl’ to exploration of gender politics and female identity in Adrienne Rich’s poetry to contemplation of mental illness, sexuality, trauma, and personal struggle in the confessional poetry of Sylvia Plath. Writing personal poetry just to give outlet to personal emotions, when Subedi had the privilege to read the finest books, meet the most prominent literary figure, and experience cosmopolitan Europe in one of the most significant eras in history, can be a subject of debate. Readers certainly want more than personal poetry from Edinburgh graduates like Professor Dr.Abhi Subedi, one of the most revered professors of English literature, columnists, critics, and much more. 

“We used to invite some prominent poets to read their poems in the evening programmes of our Edinburg student group. Among them was a Canadian poet named Margret Attwood,” said Subedi.  Despite being exposed to such influences, why doesn't his poetry encompass the broader social, political, and economic landscapes of the era or delve into the complexities of human relationships? This can definitely be a subject of discussion. It's interesting that, despite his poems being written in the late twentieth century, they don't seem to embody the typical style or mood of that era. Instead, they appear to have a more personal tone that may not immediately reflect the broader cultural and literary context of the time. 

Subedi has opted to shield himself from the sentiment of the late 20th century, characterised by post-war disillusionment, fragmentation, alienation, and student protest of the Cold War. So readers might find it hard to identify themselves with both the theme and style of the poetry. 

(Adhikari is a journalist at The Rising Nepal.)